rising prices are continuing to hit president biden s poll ratings. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i m stephen sackur. russia s invasion of ukraine has raised anxiety levels across eastern europe, nowhere more so than moldova. this former outpost of the soviet empire shares a border with ukraine. it also hosts a pro moscow breakaway territory. it is poor, beset with corruption, and it could ultimately be in vladimir putin s sights. my guest is nicu popescu, moldova s foreign minister and deputy pm. how can moldova best protect itself? nicu popescu, in chisinau, welcome to hardtalk. it s good talking to you, stephen, hello. it s a pleasure to have you on the show. now, mr deputy prime minister, you ve had more than 100 days of observing vladimir putin s invasion strategy in ukraine. right now, do you fear that putin represents a threat to moldova, too? i think this war is making every single person living on the european continent not only feel the insecurity
moldova s foreign minister and deputy pm. how can moldova best protect itself? nicu popescu, in chisinau, welcome to hardtalk. it s good talking to you, stephen, hello. it s a pleasure to have you on the show. now, mr deputy prime minister, you ve had more than 100 days of observing vladimir putin s invasion strategy in ukraine. right now, do you fear that putin represents a threat to moldova, too? i think this war is making every single person living on the european continent not only feel the insecurity generated by this war, generated by this blatant breach of international law. and of course we, as all other people living on the european continent, feel the impact of this insecurity. of course, given our geography, our history, this insecurity in moldova is indeed felt quite strongly. at the same time, we are, of course, ready for all possible developments, for all possible contingencies. but in our assessment and this assessment is shared by our partners throughout the
the outbreaks have raised concerns about a city wide shutdown just as china s second largest city shanghai re emerged from a two month lockdown. now on bbc news, hardtalk. welcome to hardtalk, i m steven sackur. russia s invasion of ukraine has raised anxiety levels across eastern europe, nowhere more so than moldova. this former outpost of the soviet empire shares a border with ukraine. it also hosts a pro moscow breakaway territory. it is poor, beset with corruption, and it could ultimately be in vladimir putin s sights. my guest is nicu popescu, moldova s foreign minister and deputy pm. how can moldova best protect itself? nicu popescu, in chisinau, welcome to hardtalk. it s good talking to you, stephen, hello. it s a pleasure to have you on the show. now, mr deputy prime minister, you ve had more than 100 days of observing vladimir putin s invasion strategy in ukraine. right now, do you fear that putin represents a threat to moldova, too? i think this war is making every
my guest is nicu popescu, moldova s foreign minister and deputy pm. how can moldova best protect itself? nicu popescu, in chisinau, welcome to hardtalk. it s good talking to you, stephen, hello. it s a pleasure to have you on the show. now, mr deputy prime minister, you ve had more than 100 days of observing vladimir putin s invasion strategy in ukraine. right now, do you fear that putin represents a threat to moldova, too? i think this war is making every single person living on the european continent not only feel the insecurity generated by this war, generated by this blatant breach of international law. and of course we, as all other people living on the european continent, feel the impact of this insecurity. of course, given our geography, our history, this insecurity in moldova is indeed felt quite strongly. at the same time, we are, of course, ready for all possible developments, for all possible contingencies. but in our assessment and this assessment is shared by o
not mean self isolation in international relations. we have very good partnerships in the security and defence sphere with partners that support moldova, and we ve always been very clear and transparent about this. right, but in terms of defending yourselves and your country s stability, you ve got a big problem, and that is a swathe of your territory is in the hands of a breakaway group who are loyal to moscow. they call their territory transnistria. between 1,500 2,000 russian troops are permanently stationed in that territory. that is an in built instability for you, isn t it? we do have a separatist conflict for, roughly, 30 years. there is indeed a russian illegal military presence on the territory, and we have always insisted on the fact that russia should withdraw its troops from our territory. at the same time, the way we have structured and have